Word came Friday that the actor would have not one but three fresh new roles in the coming year, all on shows with distinct comedic flavors. Perhaps most notably is an upcoming recurring part on Pamela Adlon’s FX series “Better Things.” For those more inclined to broadcast comedies, he’ll be one of the actors filling the Roseanne void on the newly unveiled “The Conners,” where he’ll play alongside fellow Broadway vet Laurie Metcalf as Jackie’s new fling. His first episode, a Halloween-themed one, is slated to air at the end of this month.

Broderick will also be going back to school for the upcoming Netflix series “Daybreak.” The show (which you may have been hearing about from writer Ira Madison III’s Twitter feed) follows a group of teenagers navigating their way through Glendale, CA in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse. The series is a led by a band of students and outsiders, but Broderick will be playing the school’s chummy, kind-hearted principal.

These comedy roles will serve as a nice counterbalance to the emotionally gutting projects he’s been involved in over the past few years. He voiced a character in two of last year’s most charged episodes of fellow Netflix series “BoJack Horseman” and played a small role in Kenneth Lonergan’s “Manchester by the Sea.” Ever the stage vet, Broderick also played the part of Adult Ralphie the narrator in last year’s Fox version of “A Christmas Story Live!”

Broderick was set to return to an on-camera TV role sooner than this, when he was announced to play former FEMA director Michael Brown in a Hurricane Katrina-themed season of Ryan Murphy’s ongoing “American Crime Story” anthology series. That project has since been shelved.